Historical information
Record Series 13. Enrolment Books comprises two enrolment registers and lose pages (for males), that were used to record the details of each new student starting at Lauriston. These volumes date back to the inception of our school and are Lauriston’s first system of documentation used to record student information.
Both the enrolment entries and alphabetical index at the start of each book are handwritten into a hard bound volume that was commercially produced at the time as school stationery to record student enrolments.
The first volume dates from 1901 to 1919, and the second from 1920 to 1930, but holds further details of the academic results of the students already enrolled up to 1933.
The two registers are arranged in a double page column format. The column headings are as follows:
• Name
• Date of Birth
• Name and Address of Parent
• Occupation [sometimes empty]
• Elementary [First year level for students]
• I.
• IIA.
• IIB.
• IIIIA.
• IIIB. [annotated to become IVa]
• IV. [annotated to become IVb]
• VA.
• VB.
• VI.
• Date of Leaving.
• Remarks [includes such details as: academic results for student’s last couple of years such as Matric or Leaving and their individual subject results; where they went to if another school; reason for departure if no further education; also some accolades such as “Head of School”.
The first column that held the student’s name was annotated with the year date and term. Below the student’s name in some of the early enrolment entries, extra information was added such as “died” and the date, or the student’s married name.
The details of male students who went to Lauriston’s kindergarten from 1911 are also in the registers. There are details of male students also recorded separately in loose pages that detail the enrolments from 1922 to 1930.
Up until 1944, Lauriston used school year level titles used within English Public Schools. In the registers the first year is “Elementary” (Prep) and the final year is “VI” (Year 12). The first girls who wanted to go to university sat their Senior Public Exam in their fifth year of secondary school. Students could take an extra year of study called Leaving Honours. In 1944 university entrance requirements were raised and this sixth year of secondary school became the Matriculation exam. In 1970 it was renamed High School Certificate and since 1991, the Victorian Certificate of Education.
